


Publius Divided

by Madtom_Publius



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Gen, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 18:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6388588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madtom_Publius/pseuds/Madtom_Publius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hamilton confronts Madison over switching from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans. Written in lyrical form.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Publius Divided

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr by publius-esquire

[HAMILTON]

Madison!

 

[MADISON]

Hamilton….

 

[HAMILTON]

I wouldn’t have believed the whispers if I hadn’t heard for myself

How could you go and put my policy of debt assumption on the shelf?

 

[MADISON]

Well if you’d - 

 

[HAMILTON]

I’d thought we’d understood each other, that we were a team

Despite the Federalists’ warnings that you aren’t what you seem.

I said, “No, Madison’s a man that we can count on, he’ll do what’s right

Sure, he might be small, but his pen’s got bite.”

They said, “The South speaks with one voice, Madison won’t budge 

Because when it comes to debt, Southerners hold a grudge.”

Now I’d known about Virginian belligerence 

But I said you were -

 

[MADISON]

“Mad as a hatter”?

 

[HAMILTON]

With you there was a difference!

 

[MADISON]

Hamilton, we know this is merely a simple matter

Of you trying to make Northern purses fatter.

 

[HAMILTON]

That’s not true!

 

[MADISON]

Everyone in Congress suspects your attempts to get it through

Are just a way to shine the shoes of the stockjobbers and the -

 

[HAMILTON]

Et tu?

Madison, what happened between us, when did it end,

When I could consider you not just a partner but also a friend?

We collaborated, we sweat for the Constitution to get it to pass

But you’re smothering it now, how do you expect it to last?

 

[MADISON]

You’re the one killing our greatest work, Hamilton, you’re attacking the states

With your criminal interest rates, always trying to over-regulate

With powers not granted to you, that’s not how this operates,

And if I let you continue, you’ll set the Constitution’s expiration date.

 

[HAMILTON]

And here I thought you put country first, not to be outdone -

 

[MADISON]

What gave you the idea I put union before state?

 

[HAMILTON]

Take your pick: Federalist Number Ten, Thirty-Seven, or Fifty-One?

 

[MADISON]

You really are something, but I’m not having this debate

With a man who’s betrayed everything that might have made him great.

 

[HAMILTON]

I can’t believe with Virginia you’ve become so sentimental

When I pegged you for a man who thought like a continental.

I guess you Southern flocks really do stick together

In any kind of weather.

Or at least you Virginians, because I once had a friend from the South

Who wasn’t afraid to back up the words that came out of his mouth.

But I guess things are pretty different in the Old Dominion

Where states’ rights must dictate a man’s opinion.

Go on, Madison, bend over, continue to live on

Being Secretary Jefferson’s most valuable pawn.

 

[MADISON]

You think it’s I who’s divided Publius and betrayed your trust

When your big-government policies fill me with disgust.

 

[HAMILTON]

You sung a different tune when it was you doing the essays.

Now you want to stay in Congress, you beg for their praise.

You’re a people-pleaser, a flip-flopper, a fence-rider

When it comes to discord, there’s no bigger divider. 

 

[MADISON]

So this is how this partnership ends.

 

[HAMILTON]

Friends to rivals, it’s the political trend. 


End file.
